im sure he is good at refing kickboxing an mui tie but he should stay well away from mma fights, not only was there the fight where both fighters taped and a no contest was the result he was standing lads up as they were working for possition and not giving them enuff time on the floor

Thanks to everybody involved who made my event a huge success. We had double the number of people in than the first show despite it being Mothers day.
15 fights in total with 4 superb pro fights and a great atmosphere. Ikon was packed and everybody I spoke to loved it and wants another! I was so knackered preparing this one I said it may be the last but..... watch this space!

The fights were awesome (well those I saw as I was running around like crazy all day) with the exception of the Heathcote Vs Kingsbury fight which I agree was a bad call. Lee Hasdell rang me this morning and as a true professional admitted he made a mistake to allow it to carry on after the stoppage. I could tell he was very concerned by the incident and genuinely cared that the decision was corrected.

From Lee seeing the knee injured Statham signalled him and he stopped for fighter safety at first to check it. The doc was called to look but after a bit the knee had popped back in and the fighter wanted to continue to which the doctor said it appeared ok to and so the fight was restarted. After that a choke was applied and there was a tap from Stephen but there was further controversey about it being a 'C' choke, where the fingers are inserted into the thoat and although I couldn't see there were certainlt evidential marks of such a choke visible on Stephens throat.

After it getting heated with Statham at the ref & opposition as well as the fans chanting I was glad that it was called a NC at the time because with the amount of variables we could have been stood there arguing in the octagon all night and we had to move on. Today ISKA MMA have announced that after further investigation the fight should have ended once the doctor was called in as the only time a stoppage for doctor is valid for restart is in the event of a cut and there was none. I guess we all make mistakes and being a ref is an extremely hard job. I've done it and been involved in the ref coaching courses but wouldn't have liked to have made that call. I thought Lee, Mark and ISKA did a great job again, 14 other fights were well done even if a decision against my own lad I wasn't happy with. As has been said if you dont win by tap out or ko and let it go to decision you have to accept the call.

Whoever above said Lee is a kickboxing ref really needs to look into his background and they will realise he's a bit more than just that lol.

I informed Stephen Kingsbury this morning of the decision when I dropped him off at the airport. I have nothing but respect for both him and Eamonn McNabb who both took the fights at a day or 2s notice, came over from Belfast and cornered each other - true fighters! They are tough lads from EFR. I was upset that some of the fans decided to chant and when I told Stathams coach the decision today I expressed my concerns that I had been told his corner team were also involved in this. Although I gave the crowd a speech about being respectful to fighters at the start unfortunately you can't control them all but the majority were absolutely great and we had no trouble all night. The corner is a different thing though and as a professional MMA show I won't have clubs being disrespectful to other fighters. They have been fully appologetic however and say it wasn't their corner guys, so I am happy as it didn't escalate any further. I was just concerned that the young N Irish fighter, helping out taking a fight at such short notice was left feeling threatened. Although Statham was brave to continue after his knee popped I am glad that the Stephen was awarded the win and that the mistake was rectified.

Absolutely awesome show, all the hard work, stress, tears & tantrums paid off in the end! lol
Well done to all the fighters, some great fights on even though I missed a few of them but at least I saw the majority. An extra special well done to our boy Sam on his first MMA fight at just 16 years old. He beat Nathan Dunne in a really impressive amateur bout, both lads were very respectful towards each other before & after the fight......a rematch at Ikon 3 maybe??? lol
Also to our other guys from Salford MMA Lee, Andy, Posi & Arron; very proud of you all! Also the EFR guys Stephen & Eamonn & our great but slightly insane buddies from IFS yet another impressive & lightening speed arm bar from Joe Frey in just 29 seconds!

Have to say I'm so pleased the 'no contest' decision was changed to a well deserved win for Stephen kingsbury. There's no way that fight should've continued after the knee bar, the guy couldn't stand up!!! What an impressive knee bar that was too, never seen it put on so fast....Ouch!

Thanks to Darren for putting on a great show (again), the team who helped out, ref's & stunningly beautiful commentary team LOL Good to have Neil Hall there too watching although I know he was desperate to get in the thick of the action!

LOL Apart from the fighters who were tucked up in bed from 9pm on Saturday night everyone pretty much drank from the airport at 3pm on sat to 9pm last night!! Flight was delayed which meant more pints lol Messyfun filled weekend to say the least!

On to the show ...........

Another great event put on by Darren, Michelle and the salford crew - Myself and Darren speak quite a bit about arranging events and I know the hard work and time he has put in, it truely is a stressfull job but yet again he nailed it and had everything covered!

There was some awesome fights which I cant wait to see back on P4tv although without going into it too much the reverse decession was a just cause for Stephen Kingsbury from EFR. I would also like to double up on what has been said before, Eammon and Stephen stood up to the mark to take the fights at the last minute and are warriors for doing so.

We would like to thank Adam and the team from Huyton MMA for the fight against Joe, we got speaking to the Huyton lads at the hotel and they are a great bunch of lads.

Also big thanks to Dave Ogden from Salford - Salford guys are true gentlemen and its always a pleasure working with them.

Last but not least the viking giants , they loved the Irish humour and thought we where a bit mental but I have never seen anyone laugh as hard as them in my life.

To sum it up - great break away, we got 2 wins out of 2 fights, had a blast with the team, meet some awesome people............what else could you ask for?!?!?!

I loved the viking giants!!!!
They were happy & smiley from picking them up at the airport on Sat to leaving (after a night of 'messy fun' with IFS lol) on Monday, great guys!
Also, just wanted to say how nice the guys from Huyton MMA were. Not sure if Sean posts on here but what a gent with a great team, looking forward to having you back on the next show.
Thanks again to fighterpics who will no doubt be putting some awesome pics up on here very soon & Liana from our own gym who worked her arse off taking some great photo's too.
Massive thanks to Body Active for the fighters goody bags, Caged Steel for the awesome gloves & t's which are now in demand! And our main sponsors Avalaw, thanks guys we couldn't have done it without your help!
Last but not by no means least the beautiful ring girls, stunning as always & did a fantastic job!